Thursday, October 15, 2009

Stefan Richter's frozen lollipops: A 'Top Chef' bonus

The finished frozen lollipops in flavors like wine ice cream with a chocolate center, passion fruit and eggnog.

Almost as entertaining as talking to former "Top Chef" finalist Stefan Richter and watching his sous-chef make frozen lollipops is reading the trail of comments he leaves on blogs around town. Clearly a little obsessive, hopefully his intense focus translates to the food that comes out of his kitchen at Stefan's at L.A. Farm. I was invited to try the restaurant this week, and we finished off a satisfying lunch of pumpkin soup with smoked duck and grilled salmon with Richter's fun frozen lollipops.I went back to the kitchen to watch sous-chef Troy prepare them with liquid nitrogen -- that is some fun stuff to play with! Here's how it's done, although you'd have to have a nitrogen license to do it.

First you pour some nitrogen into a small container. Don't touch the stuff, or you will stick to it.

Previously, you have frozen balls of chocolate ganache on sticks. Now take the stick out of the freezer and dip in melted ice cream -- mint, in this case.

Now dip it in the nitrogen until the ice-cream refreezes. Resist the urge to pop it in your mouth as soon as it's done -- "Your tongue will stick to it!," Troy reminds me. Make some nice layers, like you're coloring an Easter egg. You can see the finished products at the top -- but you have to lick them to get the full effect, not bite them, as the ice cream tends to fall off in shards otherwise.